An Impromptu Book Tour in Tucson!

Recently, I had the chance to visit one of my oldest friends in Tucson, Arizona. Just look at that sky and the mountains in the background! This trip was in no way related to THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL, but I used the opportunity to talk about JESSIE to the people I met there. I like to think of it as "killing two birds with one stone."

Every week I check my sales numbers on Author Central. I went from having no sales in Arizona to eleven copies sold. Those sales are directly attributable to a trip I took for pleasure. Marketing opportunities are all around me. I simply have to keep my eyes open and squash the urge to be pushy and overanxious. Most people resist a hard sell.

If you're a writer, what impromptu marketing opportunities have fallen into your lap? Combining vacation and marketing can be fun!

A Book Signing, A Book Review, And Why I'm A Rock Star!

Recently I traveled to my hometown, East Bend, North Carolina, for a book signing at the East Bend Public Library.

This is a picture from that event. I'm with Brad Matthews, an old friend from Fall Creek Elementary School, that I hadn't seen in many years.

To coincide with my appearance at the library, Yadkin Valley Living Magazine wrote a review of THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL. You can read it on their website, (page 54), or pick up a copy at local libraries and businesses throughout the Yadkin Valley.

A good friend asked how my signing went and I told her, "It's as close as I'll ever come to being a rock star!" The audience was full of family and old friends, (some of these friends I hadn't seen since our school days). My writing has brought me many special days, but none more special than this one. 

Writing from Personal Experience

In 1969, my sister was hit by a car. She was only five-years-old when it happened. I was playing in the sandbox and witnessed the accident, but my memories of it are foggy. What I remember most is seeing a body hit the passenger side door. At first, I thought someone was falling out of the car. My mind didn't connect the dots. I had no idea it was Robin.

Somehow I ran to the scene of the accident, but I don't remember doing so, only that I was there. Recently I asked my mom what she remembered. Her memories are cloudy too, but she told me that Robin took a couple of steps afterward and then collapsed. I experienced the accident emotionally and not logically. It was too horrific for my mind to process the details. All I'm left with is feelings.

The overwhelming emotion that I remember from that time in my life is guilt. Robin had a collapsed lung, a concussion, and a broken femur bone. She spent weeks in the hospital and then came home in a body cast. I felt guilty because I could run and jump and play, while Robin had to lay flat on her back and use a bedpan. She was as helpless as a newborn baby.

I decided to write a middle grade novel about the accident. Though I was actually eight at the time it happened, I made my protagonist twelve. I decided to really give her something to be guilty about. In the fictionalized account, Sarah is supposed to be babysitting and is reading when the accident happens.

Much of the story is true: the injuries, the details about living with someone in a body cast, the fact that my dad actually bought a pony and brought it home in the back of a car, but as with my first novel, most of the plot is made up. What's true are the emotions.

Have you ever tried writing fiction based on a personal experience? If so, what challenges did you encounter?

And the Winner Is: Rosi Hollinbeck!

The winner of the drawing for a copy of BELLA SAVES THE BEACH is Rosi Hollinbeck. Rosi blogs over at THE WRITE STUFF. Congratulations to Rosi and a big thank you to everyone who participated!

BELLA SAVES THE BEACH Review and Book Giveaway!

BELLA SAVES THE BEACH is the third book in the Bella and Britt Beach Series by Nancy Stewart. This lovely picture book is aimed at readers ages 6-9.

Though Bella loves the beach, she is concerned with all the trash she finds there. She enlists her younger sisters to help clean up, but they're too little and would rather play in the sand. Next Bella makes posters asking the public to help, but a storm ruins them. Only when Bella, and her best friend Britt, call on their classmates to pick up trash do they see results. 

Illustrator Samantha Bell uses a clever device of writing environmental messages in the sand like, "Trash is terrible," and "Keep our sand clean." 

After the story concludes, Stewart adds lots of interesting facts about pelicans, sea gulls, crabs, sandpipers, and plovers. For instance, did you know that sea turtles sometimes eat plastic bags because they look like jellyfish? Or that a plover, (bird), acts like a crocodile dentist and picks decaying meat from a croc's teeth?  This book would make a nice addition to classrooms studying the environment and how to keep it clean. 

Nancy will  give away a copy of BELLA SAVES THE BEACH to a lucky reader. To enter the drawing, leave a question for Nancy in the comments section.  I'll get us started: Nancy, did you always conceive of Bella and Britt as a series, or did you write the first book and your publisher suggest it?

Getting Students Involved in Authenticating Historical Fiction

The Reading Teacher article, "Getting Students Involved in Authenticating Historical Fiction," details the advantages and potential problems with using historical fiction in the classroom. Historical fiction makes history come alive for students, but sometimes authors make mistakes and can convey inaccurate information. By involving students in checking the author's research, that can alleviate the problem and teach valuable research skills in the process.

If a classroom were using my novel, THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL, one of the first things to authenticate would be whether I did my homework about tuberculosis. An excellent resource to do that is Jim Murphy's, INVINCIBLE MICROBE TUBERCULOSIS AND THE NEVER-ENDING SEARCH FOR A CURE.

The hardest chapter to write in THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL was Chapter 26, "The Model T and Me." Students could visit The Henry Ford Museum website and also watch numerous YouTube videos about how to drive a Model T.

Lots of details in THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL required research. A good source for clothing of the 1920's is EVERYDAY FASHIONS 1909-1920.

The most fun part of my research involved interviewing older family members. It was fascinating to hear firsthand about outhouses, bathing weekly in a tin tub, winding water from the well, and life before electronic gadgets.

THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL could be used during Women's History Month to discuss the role of women in society. Jessie's choices were very limited in 1922. Was she portrayed accurately for the book's setting? I'll let my readers be the judge.

My Pinterest Experiment (Part II)

As part of a recent Highlights Foundation Workshop I attended, Alison Myers offered to do a "social media critique" for each participant. Because I was already blogging, tweeting, and Facebooking, Alison suggested I try Pinterest.

Initially I set up Pinterest boards that focused solely on my book. Most of the material I put on the  boards came from either my website or my blog. Alison writes, "That is a time savvy move." But then she says, "Remember Pinterest is a SOCIAL networking site so you need to reach your tentacles out into other boards that will draw folks to your boards. Meaning you visit similar author's boards and 'repin' their work." Aha! It works much like Twitter and Facebook. I need to make friends.

I was surprised by all of the historical pictures on Pinterest. It's an excellent resource for visual research. Because my book deals with tuberculosis, I typed that word into the search function. Lots and lots of pictures popped up of sanatoriums, advertisements, medicines, x-rays. In the future, I will be adding Pinterest to my research arsenal.

Alison says you can use an aggregator to automatically notify your Twitter and Facebook accounts when you pin something new. I haven't looked into that function yet, but I plan to.

As a teacher, Alison says she uses Pinterest for "inspirational ideas and visual content" to share with her students. She recommends that I focus my Pinterest strategy on becoming a resource for teachers. Alison writes, "Imagine that you are a teacher getting ready to teach a unit on the spread of tuberculosis in the 1920's. You visit Pinterest and find a board with photos and facts. The board is found on Shannon Hitchcock's page, which also happens to have a book...that you can purchase...and an author who will give a Skype visit about her research! Now that is something to sink your teeth into." Indeed it is. I have my work cut out for me.

You can visit my Pinterest boards here:

If you have experience using Pinterest, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment and let's discuss.